The funding round was led by Luxembourg-based growth stage investor NewSpace Capital with the support of existing investors: Definvest (specialized equity fund of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, managed by Bpifrance in consultation with the French Defense Procurement Agency), Starquest, Innovacom, Safran Corporate Venture and Crédit Agricole Ille et Vilaine Expansion. Cailabs has also been selected to receive support from the European Innovation Council (EIC) fund for innovative deep tech companies.

Founded in 2013, Cailabs’ original field of expertise was long distance telecommunication, leading to the 2017 world record for transmission capacity through a single optical fiber with the Japanese operator KDDI. The company has turned this record-breaking technology into a product for local networks, upgrading more than five thousand links around the world in hospitals, universities and factories, and has expanded its product mix further with innovative laser-based material processing solutions. All of these successes are based on Cailabs’ unique optical core technologies and its strong team, which are now focused on delivering ground-breaking solutions to the challenges of laser communication through the atmosphere.  
 
“We are pleased to welcome NewSpace Capital to Cailabs. With their support and the continued backing of our longstanding partners, we will become the market leader in optical ground stations and be able to extend our offer to naval, aeronautical (aircraft, UAV) and land links,” said Jean-François Morizur, co-founder and CEO of Cailabs.
 
“NewSpace Capital is focused on growth stage companies leading innovation in the space ecosystem. In this respect, optical communication is a key area of focus, and Cailabs is one of the most exciting companies in the industry. Several factors prompted us to lead this funding round: a truly stellar team, the company’s ability to master its unique technology, multiple use cases in the photonics industry and beyond, proven track record to transform technology into commercial products, and therefore, a clear pathway of becoming a market leader in the coming years,” said Bogdan Gogulan, CEO and managing partner of NewSpace Capital.
 
Further reading: J. Bayol (Cailabs): Microfluidic chip sealing using femtosecond lasers, PhotonicsViews 19(1), 34 – 37; DOI: 10.1002/phvs.202200004 • G. Pallier (Cailabs) & J.-F. Poisson (Light Conversion): Beam shaping to scale up microprocessing, PhotonicsViews 20(1), February/March 2023, in print, DOI: 10.1002/phvs.202300003

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